Photo session sneaks......

I was so honored to do this session!

I met Melissa through e-mail this year.

Both of our husbands are officers

on the USS Abraham Lincoln.

Although Melissa and I

developed a friendly

e-mail relationship,

we never met face to face

until the night of the Christmas party

at the Casino Resort.

We ate dinner together and

found that we had alot in common.

She is also a lover of photography and does amazing work!

We talked all night and arranged to get her girls

and Bren together

in the future.

Melissa's husband just received orders to

serve in Iraq for almost a year and a half.

He'll be leaving soon,

so this session was very important

to provide memories that they

can all hold in their hands

when they are missing each other.

Which will be often.

Melissa is strong though

and an amazing mom too,

so I'm sure she'll

do better than even she expects.

But,

no matter how you package it,

separation is hard.

Keep Melissa and her sweet family

in your thoughts and prayers this year.

I know the coming year and beyond

is going to be tough on them.

But I also know that

Melissa has a strong support system

and a great attitude

about how she'll handle the deployment.

I'll be counting down the days

with her and

remain constantly thankful

that our Nation has honorable men

who are willing to serve

so that our children can have a

safer more secure future.

Thank you Melissa and Carlo,

for letting me into your home

to capture a bit of your

life through my lens.

Christmas Morning!!!

Merry Christmas everyone!!!!

I put together this quick slideshow

of our Christmas morning.

The kids were both surprised and

happy with all of their gifts.

It was so much fun watching them open

up things that we knew they really wanted.

The only thing that would have made it better

is if Nana could have been here!

We cancelled her flight due to bad weather.

We had more snow this morning

making it our first official white Christmas!

(turn my blog music off before enjoying the slideshow!)

Make a Smilebox slideshow

Merry Christmas!!!

From our home in the

Pacific Northwest.

to each of your homes

all across America,

Canada and beyond,

we wish you a

Very Merry Christmas!!

This card was made by

teddylovegraphics.

The Gingerbread house

We've had this kit for weeks

just sitting on our kitchen table

waiting for the right time.

Bren's been asking to make it for the last several days,

but there's always been another more pressing distraction in our way.

But today was finally the day!!

Bren was so excited when she asked to put it together

and I said yes!

I'm notorious for grand plans,

but droopy, lack luster results,

so we kept it simple this year.

Bren had so much fun putting her candies

all in a line.

She snuck a few and gave them to Michael

who kept stopping by to check our progress.

I can't believe tomorrow is Christmas Eve already!!!!

We're done shopping for presents

and the ingredients for Christmas dinner,

everything is wrapped,

cards are mailed,

and most of my baking is done.

Just two more batches of cookies to make.

And now with the completion of our gingerbread house
we are ready for Santa!




How about you?
Are you ready for Christmas
or will you be among the many
who frantically search the isles
of over crowded stores tomorrow?
Be careful out there!
Most of the nation is as frozen as we are here
and our roads are no fun to be on right now.
I'll post our Christmas card on the blog tomorrow.
I had a fun one made by a talented digital guru!

Christmas Party!!!

Armed with tire chains,

we set out on Thursday afternoon

for our much anticipated

USS Abraham Lincoln

Christmas Party!

The party was held at Tulalip Casino and Resort

in Marysville.

The resort part is brand new and it was stunning!

Check out our room!

We got ready and headed down to dinner.

The ball room was decorated so beautifully!

The food was amazing too!

We had prime rib, seafood lasagna,

shrimp cocktail,oysters on the half shell,

pork tenderloin, fettucinni alfredo,

and all kinds of other yummy dishes

in a gorgeously displayed buffet!

This was the view from our room on the 9th floor.

This night was our first overnight date without the kids

in almost 16 years!

We had so much fun together, played penny slots until 3:30 am,

won and lost and won and lost

until we ended the night $14 down from when we

started.

You can't beat $14 for an entire evening of fun!

We're definitely planning on doing it again

sometime this Summer.

The next day after enjoying

a huge breakfast buffet,

the valet brought us our car.

This car was a gift from my mom

and was shipped all the way from Maryland

this past October!

We were so thankful to have the valet bring us this

instead of the mini-van!

Not that I don't love and apreciate my mini-van,

but there's something about it that screams

"kids and responsibility"

and we weren't quite ready to be jolted back to reality

right there in front of the resort.

The drive home was an endless display

of another night of snow and freezing temperatures.

I won't show you photos of

the messy living room

we came home to,

or

the sink full of dishes

and

the still sleeping 17 year old

who was supposed to do them!

All in all, the kids faired pretty well.

Everyone was fed, warm and safe,

and we only got about 7 calls from them

during the course of our evening!

Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow.....

While David is out getting chains put on our tires,

I thought I'd give you a glimpse of what

is going on outside!

It is STILL snowing!!!

And not just a little bit.

It's really coming down out there!

We are still going to our party tonight.

All I've got to do is pack a bag

so we can get dressed

in our fancy clothes when we get there.

David is thinking that our odds

to win a great door prize or raffle

is going up with each inch of snow that

sticks to the ground!

The kids are really enjoying this!!

The snowboard ramp that the boys have

been working on all day

is almost complete!

Neighbors are building forts and having snow battles,

families are sledding down the middle of our

icy roads,

smoke is pouring from almost every roof top

insuring cozy comfort inside each snow covered home.

I have to admit,

it is breathtakingly beautiful!

Just look at how the snow has changed

my mountian view into a

winter wonderland!

Makes me want hot chocolate

just looking at it!

Snow Days!!!!

Last night we had our second snow storm

of the season.

There was no school today,

so

Bren and Miss K had a blast

playing out in the snow!

Check out these two adorable little snow bunnies!

David and I had to run a few errands

so we ventured out into the great un-plowed, icy unknown.

The first few routes we attempted to take were closed,

but we finally found a way into town.

These photos were taken before the majority of the snow

fell this afternoon.

We've got a good 8-10 inches on the ground now and

most of that has fallen in the past 5 hours.

We'll be getting tire chains tomorrow.
Our neighbor is going to drive David up to the store to get them.
Then we'll be able to traverse these hills with a little more confidence.


Bren and I went outside tonight
when the snow started coming down really strong.
She rode sleds with the neighbors, threw snowballs at me
ran around like a fearless kid with endless energy!
I just tried to keep myself from hitting the ground!


The snow still hasn't stopped!!
I wonder what we'll wake up to tomorrow?



David and I will be going to his command Christmas

Party tomorrow at a Casino/resort called Tulalip.

We reserved a room and are so excited to have

our first overnight stay without the kids in 15 years!

I'd say we're overdue, huh?